Isotope evidence to link a suspect with a pipe bomb multimurder in Austria 1995

A bomb attempt in Oberwart, Austria, on February 4, 1995, was the culmination of several pipe and letter bomb attempts mainly in Austria. The pipe bomb had been mounted on a self-made gypsum (plaster of Paris) pedestal and exploded when touched, killing four persons. With a level of 200 tritium units (TU), the water extracted from the gypsum pedestal was unusually enriched in tritium (3H) compared to an environmental level of about 20 TU at that time. Investigation of the 3H content of air moisture in the living room of an arrested suspect showed values of about 1000 TU (normally, 50 TU is not exceeded). Additionally, water used as sealing liquid in a glass with nitroglycerine found in the living room was also significantly enriched in 3H (>400 TU). The living room therefore offered the high 3H level environment necessary to lead to elevated 3H concentrations in the gypsum pedestal.     

Phenibut screening and quantification with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry and its application to driving cases

An analytical strategy for identification by an LC–MS/MS multitarget screening method and a suitable LC–MS/MS based quantification were developed for the psychotropic drug phenibut. The samples analyzed were collected during traffic control and were associated with driving under the influence of drugs. A positive sample for phenibut was identified in a single case of driving under the influence. The quantification revealed a drug concentration of 1.9 μg/mL. An interaction with blood alcohol (BAC = 0.10%) was discussed as the explanation of the way of driving and deficit manifestations observed (swaying, nystagmus, quivering of the eyelid, and reddened eyes). According to the available information, the quantified phenibut concentration could be explained by an intake of four tablets (self-reported) during the day containing 250 mg of the drug. Chromatography was performed with a Luna 5 μm C18 (2) 100 A, 150 mm × 2 mm analytical column, and a buffer system consisted of 10 mM ammonium acetate and 0.1% acetic acid (v/v) included in mobile phases marked as A (H₂O/methanol = 95/5, v/v) and B (H₂O/methanol = 3/97, v/v). An effective limit of detection (LOD = 0.002 μg/mL) could be achieved for the multitarget screening method. The quantification of phenibut was performed on a second LC–MS/MS system with LOD/LOQ values of 0.22/0.40 μg/mL. Since phenibut quantification data are rare, the presented information can be used with caution for evaluation of positive cases in the future.     

Why Methods Matter in European Legal Scholarship

Both in the United States and in Europe, there is a debate on methodology in legal research. Doctrinalists and multidisciplinarians appear to be in different camps fighting over the ‘true nature’ of legal scholarship. We wonder where this renewed attention for methodology is coming from and what is behind it. Should European legal scholars follow certain colleagues in the United States who believe that doctrinal research is dead and should we all engage in law and … research now? If not, does this imply that there is nothing wrong with mainstream European doctrinal legal scholarship? We believe the latter is not the case. Our hypothesis is that an ongoing instrumentalisation of law and legal research decreases the attention for methodology, for theory building, and for keeping enough professional distance to one's object of research. This threatens to result in a creeping process of herd behaviour, in copy pasting the methodology of judicial lawmaking to legal scholarship and in a lack of transparency and methodological justification in scholarly legal publications. What is desperately needed is more reflection on methodology and theory building in European legal scholarship.     

"Fantasiegeld" als Deliktsobjekt der Geldfälschung

Die Existenz einer bestimmten, als Zahlungsmittel gesetzlich vorgesehenen Banknote als Vorbild ist keine Voraussetzung des Nachmachens. Das Falsifikat muss im Wesentlichen die von der Allgemeinheit als für ein gesetzliches Zahlungsmittel wesensbestimmend angesehenen Merkmale aufweisen. Unter der Voraussetzung der Verwechslungstauglichkeit kommt auch "Fantasiegeld" als Deliktsobjekt der §§ 232, 233, 236 und 241 StGB in Frage. Wer falsches oder verf?lschtes Geld weitergibt, erfüllt in der Regel neben der jeweiligen strafbaren Handlung des 13. Abschnitts auch den Tatbestand des Betrugs. Idealkonkurrierende Verwirklichung der Tatbest?nde ist begrifflich nicht ausgeschlossen – Exklusivit?t scheidet aus. Das Verh?ltnis der Tatbest?nde ist nach den Grunds?tzen der Scheinkonkurrenz zu l?sen, wobei Spezialit?t mangels vollst?ndiger überdeckung eines Tatbestands durch einen – weitere Elemente enthaltenden – anderen ausscheidet. § 245 Abs 3 StPO gew?hrt kein Recht auf jederzeitige Besprechung zwischen Verteidiger und Angeklagtem. § 249 Abs 1 StPO enth?lt das Recht des Angekl, selbst Fragen an jede zu vernehmende Person zu stellen. Ein Anspruch, dieses Fragerecht in bestimmter Form wahrzunehmen, ist weder aus dieser Bestimmung noch aus Art 6 Abs 3 lit d MRK abzuleiten.     

Party as linkage

Nomination: Costs and benefits of party membership reconsidered by Wolfgang C. Müller, p.169
Reflections: Party as linkage by Richard S. Katz, p171     

The Strength of Perpetrators—The Holocaust in Western Europe, 1940–1944

On average, two‐thirds of the Jews in German‐controlled territory during World War II did not survive. However, the degree of victimization varied considerably, depending on the area examined. In Poland, the Baltic States, the Protectorate of Bohemia‐Moravia, Greece, the territories of Yugoslavia and the Netherlands, more than 70 percent of Jews were killed. In Hungary and the occupied territories of the Soviet Union, the number of Jews killed was close to the average. In Belgium, Norway, France, Italy, Luxembourg, and Denmark, a majority of the Jews survived. At the same time, the structure of Nazi rule over Europe before and during World War II was characterized by a wide variety of administrative regimes. So far, research has not systematically linked different degrees of Jewish victimization to different kinds of administrative regimes. Did different forms of administrative regimes result in differing degrees of Jewish victimization during the Holocaust? The present paper presents both evidence and an operationalization for a related general hypothesis.